POPE JOHN PAUL HAS CANCER

Pope John Paul has inoperable stomach cancer which recently spread to his colon. A team of palliative medical specialists is now permanently based in the Papal Apartment in the Apostolic Palace.

They administer drugs to try and ensure the Pope will live to carry out the three climatic events of his 25 years on the Throne of St Peter.

They revolve around the anniversary of his election on Wednesday (October 16). The celebrations are planned to include the beatification of Mother Theresa and presiding over the consistory, or assembly, of cardinals, including the 31 he has just created.

But increasingly the Vatican is preparing the world’s 800 million Catholics for his impending death.

The Vatican will not discuss the specific details of the Pope’s medical condition or confirm the cancer diagnosis.

But in 1992, John Paul had major surgery to remove a large intestinal tumour which doctors diagnosed as cancerous. Two weeks ago, there was evidence that the disease had returned. Last Wednesday, the Vatican announced that John Paul’s regular general audience in St Peter’s Square was cancelled because the Pope had complained of “intestinal” problems.

A colonoscopy was performed. The first indication of the gravity of the situation came shortly afterwards. Two cardinals revealed that the 83 year-old Pope “is failing fast”.

The most explicit was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith and one of the most powerful figures in the Vatican. He said the Pope “is in a bad way”.

His decision to speak publicly was seen by the Curia, the structured hierarchal body which is the Holy See’s civil service, as proof it could be only a short time before they must prepare for the election of a new pontiff.

The Holy See’s diplomats and its papal nuncios were alerted to the situation by the Secretariat of State. Traditionally heads of the diplomatic corps of each nation where they are accredited, they told fellow ambassadors of the position.

In Ireland, as in other countries, they would also have discreetly briefed the government and President Mary McAleese.

Such briefings, especially those relating to the Pope’s ailing health, are discussed on a strictly need-to-know basis.

That was why Cardinal Ratzinger’s public pronouncement caused alarm bells to ring across the Catholic world.

Not only was it unexpected and unprecedented, but it was quickly followed by another prelate issuing a statement.

One of the newly appointed cardinals, Archbishop Phillipe Barbarin of Lyon, France, said “the Pope is reaching the end of his road and is really in bad shape”.

This weekend, candles are being lit and special prayers offered in cathedrals and churches around the world.

Cardinals have been told to be ready to fly to Rome at short notice. Several are already going there this coming week, possibly to be on hand to say their farewells.

Mgr George Gainswein, Cardinal Ratzinger’s secretary, said last Thursday that “His Holiness can no longer walk or stand. He is falling apart more and more each day”.

Yet, despite the evidence of his ever-more rapid deterioration, John Paul has continued to directly involve himself in what has been one of the pillars of his pontificate: human rights.

On Friday, he sent a message to his Papal Nuncio in Colombia that he wanted the local Church there to become directly involved trying to free British TV producer Mark Henderson, 31, and the six other hostages held by ELN, the country’s most ruthless terror group. The backpackers were kidnapped three weeks ago.

This weekend two priests are travelling deep into Colombia’s northern jungles to meet with the kidnappers and bring with them the Pope’s plea.

“They will tell them that it is the Holy Father’s great wish that these people be set free”, a Vatican source told me.

Four of the hostages are Israelis and the Pope’s intervention follows high level discussions between Ariel Sharon’s government and the Vatican’s “foreign minister”, Mgr Jean-Luis Tauran. He has just been made a cardinal – making 135 Princes of the Church who are now eligible to vote for a new pope.

Among them is the Pope’s senior private secretary, Mgr Stanislaw Dziwisz – first to become a cardinal while still serving as the Pope’s closest aide.

Glint-eyed, with an imperious nose and a sharp tongue, who can rebuke equally well in Polish, Italian, French and German, Dziwisz is the only non-medical person to freely come and go from the Pope’s bedroom overlooking St Peter’s Square.

There is a nubuliser by the Pope’s bedside to assist John Paul’s breathing. Trolleys dot the room laden with other medical equipment. They are in striking contrast to the prie-dieu John Paul brought with him from Krakow, along with a striking portrait of the Madonna.

Both are the only visible links with his past. There are no discernible mementos, souvenirs or keepsakes. The Pope insists on maintaining, as far as possible, his daily schedule. He awakes at 5.30am. Two Papal Attendants help him to dress. Then they wheel him to the apartment’s private chapel.

The two blue-suited Vigili, members of the Vatican security force, bow as the Pope passes.

Vigili have always stood guard over John Paul, even in the Papal Apartment, since that fearful day in May 1981 when an attempt was made to assassinate him in St Peter’s Square.

The apartment staff, nuns and secretaries, are joined by the medical team for the early morning Mass.

Afterwards, the Pope has breakfast and begins his work schedule. In between there are periods of rest.

For a man so seriously ill, even a curtailed schedule must have an effect on his health. But he has continued to resist pleas from his doctors to slow down.

Happy 25th Anniversary Pope John Paul II

St. Peregrine Pray for Him

Please Pray for Our Pope.

A Prayer to St. Peregrine for Sick Relatives and Friends

O great St. Peregrine, you have been called "The Mighty", "The Wonder Worker" because of the numerous miracles which you obtained from God for those who have turned to you in their need. For so many years, you bore in your own flesh this cancerous disease that destroys the very fiber of our being.

You turned to God when the power of human beings could do no more, and you were favored with the vision of Jesus coming down from His cross to heal your affliction. I now ask God to heal these sick persons whom I entrust to you:

(here mention their names)

Aided by your powerful intercession, I shall sing with Mary a hymn of gratitude to God for His great goodness and mercy. Amen.

"Is this source reliable?" GORDON THOMAS is the author of thirty-eight books published world-wide, several of which have dealt with various aspects of the intelligence world. As a foreign correspondent his assignments have ranged from the Suez Crisis in 1956 to Tiananmen Square in 1989.

He has written a number of novels and screenplays and has been awarded the Critic's and Jury's prizes at the Monte Carlo Film Festival, an Edgar Allan Poe Award and three citations from the Mark Twain Society for Reporting Excellence.

His current non-fiction book, Gideon's Spies: Mossad's Secret Warriors, is to be filmed. A previous best-seller, Voyage of the Damned, received 5 Academy Award nominations.

His books have sold over 45 million copies in 36 countries. Five have been made into major motion pictures.

Having worked as a foreign correspondent, Gordon has first-hand experience of the dire consequences of unsuccessful foreign policies. Korea, Vietnam, Algeria, Cyprus, Iraq, Iran - he has covered them all. But it was Tiananmen Square which left him most bruised.

"If you see kids rolled out 14 foot long by tanks … I've seen a lot of death and horror but this was something else".

Forty-five years of reporting has given him a shelf of best-sellers - and the skills he needed to persuade the men and women of Mossad to talk to him.

Thomas was born on the floor of a house in a graveyard, in Wales. During the '30s Depression his mother was visiting his grandparents, cemetery-keepers, when she went into labour. A blizzard prevented her reaching hospital. Because his father served in the RAF, young Gordon spent his childhood abroad. But it was while Thomas was at school in England that he wrote his first book, Descent Into Danger, the true story of a British agent in Russia during World War 11.

"I wrote the whole thing in 30 exercise books. I had no idea how to find a publisher. I looked up the first one, Alan Wingate, and sent him a letter. The book was accepted. Descent Into Danger was also serialised by the Express Newspaper Group and I was given a job."

In 1956, during the Suez Crisis, Express newspapers sent Thomas, who could speak Arabic, to Egypt as a junior reporter.

"One by one all the senior correspondents, legends of the 1940s and 1950s, were expelled and there was only me. I got my first big exclusive when Nasser told me in a moment of aberration that he intended to nationalise the Suez Canal. I filed the story. Two hours later the phone rang and it was Lord Beaverbrook himself. He said 'I hope you're right because if you're not your career is over'. At three o'clock the Egyptian Foreign Office denied any plans. The stock markets tumbled. At 6 o'clock Nasser nationalised the canal."

When BBC 2 started Thomas joined as the first resident writer. " I started 'Tomorrow's World', 'Horizon' and 'Man Alive'. I became a writer, director and producer".

He made documentaries on Dr Christian Barnard, the heart surgeon, and Dr Joseph Issels, the controversial cancer specialist. But television seemed "too ephemeral, and "I'm not a person who likes big teams."

Thomas has explored some extremely dark subjects, from slavery to Hiroshima in his books and screenplays.

His father-in-law was a professional intelligence officer who worked for MI5 and ran a network in East Germany. He introduced his son-in-law to many intelligence agents including William Buckley, the CIA station chief murdered in Beirut. Thomas saw the video made of Buckley.

"The CIA told me 'Look at his eyes. He's been tortured. A doctor did that'. I thought that was one hell of a story."

During the course of his research Thomas discovered "the CIA had been the greatest pioneer of torture I'd ever come across in the West. They had enlisted a hospital attached to McGill University in Montreal and a Scots-born psychiatrist, Professor Ewan Cameron, experimented to see if it was possible to cook minds."

The book became a global bestseller, Journey Into Madness.

"After it was pubished I was getting 300 letters a year from people claiming they had been victims of various programmes run by the American government. Not only did information arrive from survivors, but my contacts in Intelligence would send me little snippets. In the course of my career, I've met a lot of people in Intelligence. Some are very spooky indeed. You wouldn't cross the room to avoid them, you just wouldn't go into the room in the first place. Those in Mossad I found particularly interesting … so devious."

In the run-up to the Gulf War, Gordon Thomas had a rare interview with Saddam Hussein.

"In our deserts the makers of deadly perfume have worked hard to provide us with the weapons to defend ourselves and destroy the Zionists should they ever attack us, or their allies should they, too, dare to attack us." Saddam told him.

It was the first hint that Iraq possesed biological weapons. The interview was published around the world.

Gordon Thomas has reported all the major Middle East wars since 1956, including witnessing the effect of biological and chemical weapons in the notorious massacre of Kurds during the Iran/Iraq War. His intelligence contacts, particularly in Israel, are second to none. They helped to pave the way for him to write Gideon's Spies.

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